Thursday, March 3, 2016

Finding Me (Finding Me #1), by Dawn Brazil

Booktrope, ISBN 9781497343887, March 2016

Chloe Carmichael is seventeen, rich, and mostly pretty pampered. She does have her frustrations with her mother, who is very into appearances, and has insisted that she date "the right boy,"--Zach. She and Zach regard each other as friends, but they both agree to be "boyfriend and girlfriend" to others, due to maternal pressure. She has good friends, though, likes her science classes, and figures that in another couple of years, she'll be at college and not so much under her mother's thumb.

Then strange things start to happen. She has a strange, frightening vision of Zach being murdered--shortly before he is really murdered, exactly as she envisioned. She starts seeing strange things, hearing voices, and having strange dreams. A new group of kids at school tell her they know why; she's one of them, part of a special group with a mission, to protect humanity.

And they tell Chloe that although she doesn't remember it, her name is really Amanda, and they've known each other for several lifetimes.

I like the characters, and the plot moves along. Unfortunately, some rather basic things haven't been though through properly. Chris, Chloe/Amanda's boyfriend from their previous lives, tells her that there are six universes within this galaxy. They've lived their lives in each of the five others, and Earth, Chloe's Earth, is the sixth. It's their last chance to stop the enemy that threatens humanity.

Now, of course, there's a way this business of six universes in one galaxy can be made to almost make sense, except that events in the story subsequently make clear that that particular alternate interpretation isn't the one Brazil is using. In an otherwise well-constructed story, this is just a huge hole, that will toss many readers right out of the story. And that's too bad, because there is a good story in here. Perhaps Brazil just needs a better, more demanding editor.

Aside from that flaw, there's also the fact that this is the first book of a trilogy. It ends with a quite major cliffhanger. However, the subsequent volumes will be out this year, so there won't be a long wait for the rest of the story.

Overall, an entertaining story aimed at young adult readers.

I received a free electronic galley of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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